The Hard Reality of Satanism

The hard reality of Satanism is that it is very different from both the media image and the more recent image pedalled by imitation Satanists in both Europe and America.

I. What Satanism Is:

a) Satanism is a quest for self-excellence, involving real danger, real challenges and requiring real courage. It involves taking your body to and beyond its physical limits of endurance. It involves real action, alone: without the support of friends, comrades, lovers, relations or anyone. It involves accepting challenges – physical, psychic, intellectual and triumphing solely by one’s own efforts. It involves the triumph of pure, individual will and desire.

b) Satanism is, in part, an Inner quest, an exploration of the `hidden’ (and overt) aspects of consciousness: a discovery of the darkness within and beyond the individual psyche. This involves ‘magickal acts’ – such as rituals. This magick, however, is a means, not an end.

c) Satanism involves ordeals, both physical and magickal. Those who are suitable triumph; the others fail. [One such ordeal is the Grade Ritual of Internal Adept – where the candidate lives alone and isolated, bereft of everything except the bare necessities for physical survival, for a period of three months.]

d) Satanism requires the practical experiencing of all moral limits, and then a mastery of the feelings, desires, pleasures, terrors, pains and so on that these imply.

e) Satanism involves the individual defiance of all subservience: a Satanist accepts guidance only, and refuses to be dominated or intimidated by anyone. This guidance is toward practical experience, and it by this experience that the novice learns and develops a genuine Satanic character.

f) Satanism involves sacrifice – this is a necessary test of character [qv. the MSS, “Satanism, Sacrifice and Crime – The Satanic Truth”, and “Satanism – The Sinister Shadow, Revealed” for more details.].

g) Satanism is a means – a method, or way, and the purpose of this means, method or way is to produce a specific type of individual: the next stage of our evolution as a species. Satanism is thus an expression of evolutionary change – on both the individual level and in respect of `societies’ and ‘history’. The individuals so created often inspire in the supine majority a certain terror/awe/admiration/fear/jealousy.

h) Satanism is elitist. It does not compromise – its tests, ordeals, methods and character-building experiences are severe and will never be made easier to make them acceptable to more people or easier to undertake.

i) Satanism is esoteric by nature and intent: it is both a ’secret’ way, by virtue of its methods etc., and it is not nor probably will be suitable for the majority for many, many centuries.

II. What Satanism Is Not:

a) Satanism is not, nor can ever be, a religion, nor just a ‘philosophy’. A religion means acceptance of authority, the rigid structure of a ‘Church’ or a ‘Temple’, and a unified dogma (with the consequent schisms and claims to ‘authenticity”). The religious attitude is the antithesis of what Satanism really is – for Satanism is a way of living, a way of experiencing, in the raw, whereas religion abstracts, limits endeavour, behaviour and moralizes. In short, a Satanist plunges into reality, without any supports (moral, psychic or human) whereas a religious person has that reality prescribed by dogma, authority and such like, and is supported by a `Church’, its members and their attitudes. Satanism is an ecstatic affirmation of existence – a taking of existence into new and higher realms, as well as a plunge into existing darkness and the creation of new darkness.

b) Satanism cannot have anyone impose upon it any structure, authority, or institution of any kind by claiming a ‘dark mandate’ or some kind of ‘revelation’. There can be no such thing as an, infernal mandate’ of whatever kind because the only thing that really matters to Satanism is experience, its accumulation and the highly individualized learning that results from such experience. A genuine Satanist, for example, confronted by an entity which exhibited all the powers attributed to Satan would not even accept what that ‘entity’ said and would most certainly not show any submission – instead, they would a defiance, a reasoned assessment of what was said, and then a judgement made from experience. A Satanist never surrenders to anything – and would rather die, proud and defiant, than submit. This applies even to ‘Satan’. If and when a Satanist accepts guidance, it is from someone of experience who has explicated Satanism by their life and thus who can offer advice based on that experience. The aim of Satanism is to create wilful, characterful, defiant, unique individuals who have or can fulfil their potential as gods – it is not to create followers or sycophants. An `infernal mandate’ implies sycophancy.

c) Satanism does not involve discussions, meetings, talks. Rather, it involves action, deeds. Words – written or spoken – sometimes follow, but not necessarily. The ideal candidate for Satanism is the individual of action rather than the ‘intellectual’.

By the nature of most Satanic actions, they can seldom be mentioned and thus remain esoteric. The essence that Satanism leads the individual towards, via action, is only ever revealed by that participation which action is. Words, whether written or spoken, can never describe that essence – they can only hint at it, point toward it, and often serve to obscure the essence.

Satanism strips away the appearance of ‘things’ – living, Occult and otherwise by this insistence on experience, unaided. What is thus apprehended by such experience, is unique to each individual and thus is creative and evolutionary. Discussions, meetings, talks, even books and such like, de-vitalize: they are excuses for not acting.

A Satanist will sometimes use such forms as he/she may use the form of a Temple – to enhance and/or provoke experiences. But they are then actively manipulating, actively creating experiences – the others involved are being used by that person. That is, there is only one Satanist at such gatherings (usually) – the others may believe they are ‘Satanists’, but they are deluded.

d) Satanism does not apply moral absolutes to real-life situations and forms. This may best be explicated by two examples. First, politics. Satanism does not affirm or deny any political forms or type of politics – it does not, for example, announce that ‘fascism and Satanism are incompatible’. Such announcements/pronouncements arise from a moral bias and a lack of insight into both Satanism and `society’ and thus Aeonics.

A Satanist, concerned with experience, may use a political form for a specific purpose – the nature of that form in terms of conventional politics and morality (such as `extreme Right-wing’) is irrelevant. What is important is whether it can be used to (a) Provide experience of living and the limits of experience, and/or (b) Aid the sinister dialectic of history. Thus a Satanist may become involved in, or set up, an organization of the extreme Right – this is dangerous, exciting, vitalizes, provides experiences `on the edge’ and should thus aid the development of the character and insight of that Satanist (1). What is important is that this involvement is done for an ulterior, Satanic, motive: what others think and believe about such actions is totally irrelevant. Anyone purporting to be a Satanist who criticizes such an action, whatever the political hue of the group/organization, reveals by that criticism that they are not Satanists – but rather, moralizing curds lacking in insight and real Satanic understanding.

The second example concerns the formation and use of Satanic ‘Temples’ and groups by a Satanist. A Satanic novice, in order to gain experience of magickal rituals and people manipulation, usually forms a group to perform Satanic rituals The people recruited are for the most part used – and the novice often assumes a specific Satanic `role’ for this: the role of sorcerer/sorceress. He/she may dress in a certain way and so on, as he/she may use fables to impress and/or manipulate. This, however, for a genuine Satanist, is only a stage – and one which lasts a year or two. After that, experience and mastery of ceremonial and hermetic magick gained, they move on to new challenges and experiences, as all good Satanists should. Further, the individuals of this ‘Temple’ or group are not Satanists, although they may believe themselves to be – they are simply being used to afford the novice pleasure/excitement/experience and so on. Had any of them any Satanic character or potential, they would rebel to undertake their own quest by forming such a group/’Temple’ and experience the limits of themselves.

Sometimes, the group has another aim – an Aeonic or supra personal one, in which case its life may be extended. But whatever, genuine Satanic guidance by an Adept or Master/Mistress to a novice always occurs on an individualized basis, never within the rigid and constraining form of a ‘Temple’.

Thus, there is not nor can be any constraining rules applied to the conduct of such ‘Temples’ and groups – there is no ‘moral code’, no bounds which cannot be overstepped. The rules, such as they are, are made by the Satanic novice according to their desire and goals. That is, they can do with that group and its individuals whatever they desire to do and no one – not even the Adept/ Master/Mistress who may be guiding them – can set limits or prescribe their behaviour, They must learn for themselves – and from their mistakes, should they make some.

This naturally leads to the obvious Satanic deduction that a group like the Temple of Set may contain one, perhaps two, Satanists – who are using the ‘members’ for their own Satanic goals. This person (or persons) would of course deny this, and if that denial was sincere, they could not be Satanists. What is certain, is that that group cannot contain more than perhaps two Satanists – for the members accept the constraints imposed upon them from above, and are servile, in both theory and practice. They are also not being led into real experiences, but accept a sterile, sanitized and safe ‘Satanism’ as pedalled by their leader.

e) Satanism does not seek any form of official recognition as it does not seek to become respectable or the prerogative of a majority. Rather’ Satanism operates’ and must operate’ for the most part in a clandestine or ‘underground’ manner. ‘Official’ recognition mean someone or some organization is granted some sort of “status” and thus assumes both in theory and in fact an ‘authority’ and an organizational structure to support it. This authority and this structure mean followers, sycophants – and contradict the essence of Satanism.

‘Respectability’ means a moral stance broadly in line with that pertaining at the time – that is, it means a restricting morality, ethics, as well a limiting of action to what is deemed broadly ‘acceptable’ by the ’society’ of the time.

Both of these – official recognition and respectability – also mean that the self-appointed authority which is recognized and becomes or seeks to be respectable, sets its own limits: there is ‘proscription’ of other groups, a peer hierarchy and all the many trappings of herd conformity; the triumph of illusive forms over essence. In brief, the deluding of others, rather than their liberation.

Since the experience of the essence that Satanism brings is unique, this uniqueness is totally contradictory to all forms that seek to constrain, define and restrict – two of these forms being ‘official recognition’ and ‘respectability’.

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Some other hard facts about Satanism are in order – to be placed on record

Satanism is hard and very dangerous. This danger is much more than just a ‘mental’ or a psychic one of the kind sometimes experienced in magickal workings. It is a personal danger of the ‘life or death’ kind. If it is not, then it is not tough enough, it is not Satanic. For far too long the pathetic imitation Satanists, such as those in the Temple of Set and the Church of Satan, have had no one to contradict their sickly, wimpish versions of Satanism – they have tried to deny the darkness and evil which are essential to Satanism because the frauds in those organizations are fundamentally weak: they have never gone to their limits, never experienced the realness of evil. They have tried to make ‘Satanism’ safe and ‘respectable’: they have intellectualised it because they are typical products of this present intellectualised, peace-loving, “we need to be safe” society.

A Satanist is like a beast of prey – in real life, not in fantasy. A Satanist may be and often is an assassin, a warrior, an outlaw – in real life. The imitation Satanists, however, pretend to be these things – their fantasy-life is greater than their real experiences of such things. A Satanist seeks and makes real his/her fantasies and then masters the real-life situations and all those desires/feelings which give birth to those fantasies – they live them and then transcend them, creating from those experiences something beyond them: a new individual. Often, things go wrong – but as always in life, the strong survive and the weak perish, are written off. The Satanist creates the dreams, standards of excellence and spirit which others often later aspire to emulate. This creation is in real life, by deeds and deeds alone.

Because of this, few indeed are the genuine Satanists. Sometimes their lives (or aspects of them) become public – but often they are hidden, working their darkness in secret, for the benefit of evolution.

1. It can also aid the sinister dialectic – here, an understanding of Aeonics is important.